CULTURES
ARE LIKESTREAMS,flowing from countless trickles
and springs. There are sources everywhere. Tracing these origins is slow
work. The way is often hard and slippery, but the rewards are amazing.

For a quarter-century and
more, I have pursued Mormon parallels in the most unexpected places, and
have exclaimed aloud in frequent surprise. MORMON
PARALLELS: A Bibliographic Source was
announced January 24, 2008 and made available in February. It is sold by
my sole distributor, below.

Each copy is personally
hand-made by the author, tagged and numbered in the digital text, and tested
individually through a process requiring several days for each batch . .
.

When I look
up to heaven/And there my Jesus view,And faith to me is given/Those wonders to pursue.I cry out, O amazing!/Astonish'd at the sight,And ever would be gazing/In raptures of delight.There on a throne most glorious,/
With sweet delight I see,Exalted and victorious,/
The Lamb that died for me.

–
From a revival hymn book published in rural
New York State, 1816. Mormon Parallels entry 111.

From
proverbial attics, dusty old bookshops, book fairs and catalogs –
through auctions, telephone calls, and pleasant drives to small New
England towns – a seemingly endless variety of Mormon parallels
continues to appear. If these books and papers were conscious beings,
they might huddle nervously upon their shelves, rustling their leaves,
wondering when the Mormons would come to read what they have to say.
Here, then,
is a sampling in five hundred entries, a mere introduction to this
fascinating material which has awaited our attention for two centuries.
As time goes on, we will see more, and understand better. Whatever
be the conclusions of coming years, we must at least sound increasingly
naïve to exclaim, "Whoever thought such things before?"

—
from the Introduction, p. 45

MORMON
PARALLELS: A BIBLIOGRAPHIC
SOURCE

BY
RICK GRUNDER

Lafayette,
New York: RICK GRUNDER –
BOOKS, 2008

More
than twenty-five years in the making; 2,088 pages, 500 entries,
293 illustrations (76 in color), nearly 900,000 words –
and things which you have never seen before. The first edition,
published in digital form only (.pdf), on a single CD-ROM.*

Limited
to three hundred copies, each signed and numbered on the disc, on the
folding container, and numbered in the digital text of the first page
of the work itself.

––CURRENTLY OUT OF STOCK–– $200

An additional
one hundred SCHOLAR COPIES, signed and lettered.
A – VVVV, are not for sale, but will be given to students, private
researchers, institutions which have provided assistance for this project,
and other friends.

THE
FOLLOWING ABBREVIATED ENTRIES
were listed on this page several years ago, and generally appear in the book
with further detail, some with illustrations. FOR
EXAMPLESOF ACTUAL
ENTRIESAND PRESENTATIONINTHE BOOK,
however, see the link just above.

11 X 11 cm. + margins. Verso
blank. A relatively primitive plate probably taken from a simple family or
children's atlas; a previous owner has penciled"1820" in the lower margin.

Includes Jerusalem and much
of the Near East. Although this is a small map for such a vast region, with
relatively few place names designated, the engraver has identifiedComoro,
a chain of French-owned volcanic islands (Archipel des Comores) northwest
of Madagascar. The Encyclopedia Britannica (11th ed.) records volcanic
eruptions beginning in 1830 on the island of the Great Comoro where Maroni,
the capitol of this territory, is located (not shown here). These islands
were a stopping place for Captain Kidd, who figured prominently in the treasure-hunting
lore of Joseph Smith's world.

Beloved ! If we are
not to think it strang[e] . . . Anonymous manuscript spiritual autobiography
by a man of New England born ca. 1802, relating his revival/conversion experiences,
including visions during solitary prayer in the fields in 1823-4. No place,
written 17 May 1859, "part from memory, & part from a sketch written at
the time."

An excellent original narrative
manuscript of revival-inspired struggles of a young man in Connecticut in
1823-4 and earlier. Almost certainly unpublished, this record contains a number
of interesting elements reminiscent of Joseph Smith's experiences at the same
time.

When about sixteen years of
age, the writer felt "a little hardend" and began to reflect on the goodness
of God. Suddenly, he reports, while alone one day, ". . . in an instant an
uncommon degree of heavnly light beam'd forth upon my soul . . . something
similar to that which surrounded Saul of Tarsus . . ." p.3. He was tempted,
however, to delay repenting until he was twenty-one.

In late 1823, the writer moved
"to the upper part of Conn[ecticut]—to a place where they were blest with
a revival of religion." p.5. He then experienced something on the order of
what Joseph Smith explains had happened to him only three months earlier
:

One night after being much
troubled . . . [about] my fearful doom . . . I laid down . . . on a sudden
the most beautiful person . . . appear'd . . . clothed in a long, white, spotless
robe . . . Christ turned & looked on me with the most pleasant & winning
smile I ever beheld . . . I awoke!, & although it was nothing but a dream,
there was all the light & clearness of an eternal sun-beam upon it, the
light was so clear . . . [pp. 6-7. Compare to Joseph Smith's experience: ".
. . I often felt condemned for my weakness and imperfections; when . . . after
I had retired to my bed for the night . . . I discovered a light appearing
. . . which continued to increase until the room was lighter than at noonday,
when immediately a personage appeared . . . He had on a loose robe of most
exquisite whiteness . . . his whole person was glorious beyond description,
and his countenance truly like lightning." (Joseph Smith History 1:29-32)]

Still feeling that he did
not know the Lord, however, our writer thought that God directed his steps
to a nearby town "among a praying people call'd Methodist . . ." p.7. In January,
1824, he attended most of their meetings, but went through spiritual agony
which ". . . can never be described. . . . the pains of Hell had got hold
of me . . . I was cut off from hope & sunk in despair . . . the quicker
I could know my doom & yield to my fate the better . . . being . . . without
rest or sleep . . . with the pains of Hell hold of me What could I do?" pp.
8-9. The answer, of course, was to believe in Christ, and to believe that
there would be hope, following this painful chastisement. But hope did not
come before Satan tried to interfere:

On Sunday the 13 day of
March 1824 . . . I strove, I cried, I wept. I call'd for mercy, but none
was to be found. My sins my crimes deserved Hell, & to Hell I thought
I must go. . . . About 11 O.Clock at night when in deep distress of soul,
these words seem'd spoken'd by the Spirit, "Arise&gotothyFather," & immediately I started off for
the woods to comply with the voice . . . but when alone in the field with
none but God near, Satan appeard to me in a form I will not now describe.
I saw him as really & as truly as I ever saw anyform
in my life. . . . I was greatly frigh[t]ened & fled from the field,
& in coming down to the road I met a br'o[ther] who had been watching
me . . . 0! this was satans hour . . . for I then placed no value on anything.=
the truth was, -I was going to an old building, to have satanhelpme to put a period to my earthly existence . . . [p. 10]

The brother hurried the young
man into the house, but could not prevent the devil, "in visible form," from
troubling him twice again that night and once more in the morning: ". . .
I saw that horrid form.== I tell the truth. I lie not.- " p.10. Like the writer
of the present manuscript, Joseph Smith writes:

At length I came to the
conclusion that I must either remain in darkness and confusion, or else
I must . . . ask of God. . . . I retired to the woods to make the attempt.
. . . I had scarcely done so, when immediately I was seized upon by some
power which entirely overcame me . . . Thick darkness gathered around me,
. . . I was ready to sink into despair and abandon myself to destruction—
not to an imaginary ruin, but to the power of some actual being from the
unseen world . . . [Joseph Smith History 1:13-16]

Additional statements of interest
in the manuscript include the writer's memories of how, early in his struggles,
". . . [I] warded off Gods claims upon me . . . Yet. . . Gods claims were
upon me & I could not rid myself of them . . ." (p.3; compare to Alma
42). ". . . I had a practice of retiring . . . to the fields for meditation
contemplation & prayer . . . & sometimes I would have views of God
& Christ . . ." p.14.

DOW, Lorenzo.THE
OPINION OF DOW; Or, LORENZO'S THOUGHTS, On Different Subjects, in an Address
to the People of New-England. Windham: Printed by J. Byrne, 1804.

In the course of arguing against
doctrines of predestination, Dow here reveals early nineteenth-century beliefs
in the pre-mortal creation of human spirits. Dow questions such ideas, but
records that they were accepted by people with whom he came in contact:

. . . there is something in
man abstract from matter, which is spirit, which some call the soul, and
which makes him sensible and rational, &c. And to suppose the soul to
be a part of God, is inconsistent . . .. . . . .

Some people have an idea
that the souls of infants come right pure from the hand of god, by infusion
into the body, and that the body, being of Adam's race, pollutes the soul,
and causes it to become impure, just as if the body governed the mind. Allowing
the above, When did God make the soul of the child that was born yesterday?
[p.107] Why, says one, within the course of a few months past. Hush, I deny
it, for the bible says, Gen. 2. 1, 2, 3, that God finished the heavens (that
is the starry heavens) and earth and all the HOST of them, and then God
rested from the works of creation on the seventh day--he hath not been at
work in creating new souls ever since. Therefore your idea that God makes
new souls daily, falls to the ground; and you can't deny it, if the bible
be true.

But
says one, their souls were made in the course of six days.

Where
then have they been ever since? Laid up in a store-house in heaven? If they
were, they were happy; if so, what kind of a being does this represent the
Almighty, especially if connected with the opinion of some who suppose that
there are infants in Hell, not more than a span long!

First,
God makes Adam happy in Paradise, and these infantile souls happy in a store
house, then when Adam falls, prohibits adultery, and at the same time previously
decrees that they shall commit it to produce an illegitimate body, and he
to help them on to perfect [p.108] the illegitimate, takes one of these
pure souls, infuses it into the body, and the body pollutes it, causes it
to become impure, and is now a reprobate for Hell fire. Thus you see some
people represent God as making souls pure, and keeping them happy some thousands
of years, then damning them for a sin they never committed, and now the
difference between this BEING if any such there be, and dealeth thus with
creatures and HIM that we call the Devil , I leave you to judge.
God help you to look at it in the scale of equality, and see whether the
above be right or wrong.

But
says one, where do you think the soul comes from?

As
Adam was the first man, I must suppose from reason and scripture he got
his soul right from God, as there is no other source for him to derive it
from, but Eve was taken out of Adam, and there is no account of her receiving
her soul right from God; and if not, I must suppose the whole of her was
taken from Adam and of course she got her soul from him as well as her body.--And
as we read that the souls of Jacob's [p.109] children, Gen. 46, 26. were
in Jacob's loins and came out, &c. I herefrom infer, that they were
laid up in a store house in Heaven, but came by natural generation from
the parents as well as the body. . . . [p.110]

Additional Mormon parallels
abound in this small volume, and are presented below in the order in which
they appear:

. . . finite accountable intelligencies
[sic], were created . . . angels were created, and we must suppose they
were all happy, holy and good at first . . . [p.31;] Some people say, that
there are infants in hell not more than a span long, for Adam's disobedience.
But I deny it, upon the principles of scripture and common sense. I acknowledge,
however, it would have been just in God to have damned Adam and Eve, for
their own sins, but to have suffered Adam and Eve to multiply, and punish
their posterity with an actual punishment, for that which they were passive
in procuring; would represent God as unjust . . . [p.60; see also the table
below;] . . . God's justice demanding infinite satisfaction. A finite
being could not make satisfaction beyond his own finite sphere . . .
[p.60; cf. Alma 34:10-11: ". . . it must be an infinite and eternal sacrifice.
Now there is not any man that can sacrifice his own blood which will atone
for the sins of another.";] . . . the atonement . . . would be a sufficiency
for all the world, or ten thousand times as many; for what greater satisfaction
could be made, than that which is infinite? [p.113;] Certainly, saith the
scripture, all things are now ready, now is the accepted time, and behold
now (not to-morrow) is the day of salvation. To-day if you will hear his
voice. Remember now thy Creator, in the days, &c. and there being no
encouragement in the Bible for to-morrow, now is God's time and you cannot
deny it . . . [p.99; cf. Alma 34:33;] Says another, I will acknowledge the
ancients could talk of the knowledge, but inspiration is now done away;
therefore, it is nonsense to expect any such thing in this our day. Answer.
We read . . . of a time when all shall know the Lord, from the least to
the greatest. . . . Why may not people know him in this our day? nature
has not changed, nor God, and if matter still can operate on matter, why
not spirit upon spirit. [pp. 102-3;] . . . I again argue, the need that
we have of revelation, in order to understand and know our duty aright,
and likewise to form proper ideas of God, and eternal things, &c. [p.138;]
. . . when you speak of the knowledge of God relative to creation, or his
creatures, in the sense they speak, you must necessarily bound God's knowledge
by finity, and of course to apply the word infinite, &c. to argue great
knowledge is a contradiction, and you can't deny it, because there cannot
be an infinite finite. [p.105;] There cannot be a law without a penalty
. . . [p. 116; cf. Alma 42:17: "How could there be a law save there was
a punishment?";] . . . when we do wrong, we feel misery, and living and
dying therein, shall carry our misery to eternity with us; as death only
separates the soul from the body, but doth not change the disposition of
the mind. [p.116; cf. Alma 34:34;] Some say the Bible is revelation, but
deny that there is any in this our day, saying the Bible is sufficient without
the influence of God's spirit. But observe, I believe in the Scriptures
as much as any person, &c. But with regard to the influence of the spirit,
I believe it is strictly necessary . . . [p.120] Some people suppose that
all the heathens are damned; but for my own part I beg leave to dissent
. . . if Christ lighteth all by his spirit, then he lightens the heathens;
and if they, instead of resisting the light, yield to its influence, it
will distill the nature of Christ in them, and then they will be Christians,
not in name but in nature. And if they act according to the light they have,
I must believe it will be well with them in eternity. For I cannot believe
any man will be damned for the sin of ignorance, which he could not possibly
avoid. [p.134]

Iowa (State). Constitution.
1846.CONSTITUTION FOR THE STATE OF IOWA, Adopted in convention, May
18, 1846; June 10, 1846. Referred to the Committee on Territories, and ordered
to be printed. The Constitution. . . . [Washington, 1846] (29th Congress,
1st Session; Senate Document 384).

22½ cm. 14 pp.

The document from which the
majority of the first Deseret Constitution was copied. See Peter Crawley,
The Constitution of the State of Deseret (Friends of the BYU Library
Newsletter, Vol 19, 1982; Two-Millionth Volume Keepsake), pp. 12-13, 25, stating
that "Fifty-seven of the sixty-seven sections are taken from the Iowa constitution,
in most cases word for word." p.13. This is understandable, since the Saints
were trudging through Iowa when this Iowa constitution was adopted. Indeed,
Brigham Young first arrived at Mount Pisgah on that precise day, May 18; see
Preston Nibley, Exodus to Greatness ; the Story of the Mormon Migration,
(Salt Lake City, 1947), pp. 167, 169.

LOWE, Abraham T.THE
COLUMBIAN CLASS BOOK, Consisting of Geographical, Historical and Biographical
Extracts, Compiled from Authentic Sources, and Arranged on a Plan Different
From Any Thing Before Offered the Publick. Particularly Designed for the Use
of Schools. Worcester [MA]: Published by Dorr & Howland, 1824.

Text book of geography and
history, sporting recommendations by four theologians or ministers. The final
section, entitled, "Conclusion, Including a Brief View of the Universe. —Goldsmith."
(pp. 348-55), includes observations relevant to Mormon interest:

. . . the firmament manifests
to our view its grandeur and riches. The sparkling points with which it
is studded, are so many suns suspended by the Almighty in the immensity
of space, to worlds which roll all around them. The Heavens declare the
glory of God . . . Thousands of thousands of suns, multiplied without end,
and ranged all around us, at immense distances from each other, attended
by ten thousand times ten thousand worlds, all in rapid motion, yet calm,
regular, and harmonious, invariably keeping the paths prescribed them; and
these worlds, doubtless, peopled with myriads of beings, formed for endless
progression in perfection and felicity! [p.351]

"Negro Insurrection," an article
on p.[3], taken from the New York Commercial Advertiser and the Nashville
Banner "of the 15th," reports plots between slaves and whites to rampage
the countryside, "murdering all the white men and aguly (not handsome) women—"
Several culprits were hanged; "They were allowed but one hour to prepare for
death." One white leader of the plot, a Dr. Cotton, is described as "'. .
. an old confederate of . . . [John] Murrell, who is now in the Nashville
Penitentiary.'" The Mormon declaration on governments and laws drafted by
Oliver Cowdery a few weeks later contains a relevant verse at the end warning
against preaching to slaves against the wishes of their masters, "nor to meddle
with or influence them in the least to cause them to be dissatisfied with
the situations in this life, thereby jeopardizing the lives of men; such interference
we believe to be unlawful and unjust, and dangerous to the peace of every
government allowing human beings to be held in servitude." D&C 134:12
(August 17, 1835).

ORIGINAL AND SERIOUS REFLECTIONS,
CONCERNING OUR IDEA OF THE SUPREME BEING; of the Importance of Matter
or Substance, and its Immortality, of Death, and of a Future Ameliorated Existence
of Mankind. By Immortalicus. I had rather
believe all the fables of all the heathen gods, and become pagan, than that
this universal frame is without a mind.—Bacon.New-York:
Printed and sold by Elliot and Crissy, 1811.

23 cm. [1]f., 26 pp. Not in
the National Union Catalog; Shaw & Shoemaker 23604 locates only the copy
at the American Antiquarian Society in Worcester, Massachusetts. Copyrighted
by Elliot and Crissy, who state in an Advertisement on the back of the title
leaf that "The Manuscript . . . was left by its Author in this unfinished
state, on account of his departure for Europe, to the care of a Friend, who
has presumed to publish it . . ."

The "Mormon" concept of the
eternal nature of matter was widely published long before it appeared in Parley
P. Pratt's "A Treatise on the Regeneration and Eternal Duration of Matter"
(ca. 1839), Doctrine and Covenants 93:33 (1833), or any other Latter-day Saint
context, as may be seen by several entries in this bibliography. The present
example is particularly dramatic and to the point. According to this remarkable
(if overly precious) text, matter is the "great, magnificent, and only visible
Being, called Matter, or Substance—the indispensible, and all-important instrument
of the eternal and all-perfect Mind . . ." p.7. In essence, the anonymous
writer contends that:

1) God may have existed before
matter, but,

2) Matter is "immortal," never
destroyed, but simply reorganized.

3) Human beings, at least their
bodies, are not immortal, since their matter is renewed every seven years and
then dispersed after death.

4) The mind (spirit?) may consist
of some "highly refined substance."

The following excerpts contain
ideas which I would once have thought to be too "modern" to have been propounded
at such an early date:

. . . the original quantity
of Matter, or Substance, and the gravity and velocity of our Globe, in its
diurnal rotation, and in its annual course round the sun, continue to be,
without either increase or diminution, the same they have always been; .
. . incessant physical changes, which solicit our attention, by occuring
daily and hourly before our eyes, have no effect whatever on the original
quantity of its Matter; for so admirably strict is the economy of Nature,
that it is not probable that a single particle of this most wonderfully
docile and susceptible, yet almost unknown Being, has, since its formation,
either escaped, or been lost, or annihilated.

The duration of Matter,
or Substance, is, evidently, indispensible, and therefore, it must, consequently
and necessarily, be immortal. [pp. 8-9]

If the pre-eminent and
all powerful Mind be supposed to have existed prior to matter, the latter
must, necessarily, be the second being in the Universe . . . [p.10]

. . . the Matter, or Substance,
that constitutes our bodies, the immense Globe of our Earth, the solar system,
and the fixed stars, is, in the great operations of the Supreme Being, indispensible,
and, therefore, of course, must, necessarily, be immortal . . . [p.20]

. . . [Mankind's] organization,
which alone constitutes them Men, . . . and which is manifestly only temporary,
has in it nothing (the fœcundity of Nature being inexhaustible) on which
they can possibly build so impracticable and needless a circumstance as
their personal immortality. Moreover, the small quantity of Matter, or Substance
that constitutes their frail bodies [p.21] is, from its instability and
activity, according to the opinion of the best informed Physiologists, wholly
renewed at least every seven years; a child at seven years old, not having
in any part of its body, a single grain remaining of the substance it had
at its birth . . . At this rate, a man who lives seventy years, hath his
whole bodily mass renewed ten times . . .[pp. 21-2]

The existence
of mind, independent of what we call Matter, may be inferred from the
existence of the Supreme, or Eternal Mind; but, what mind is, whether
any kind of highly refined substance, more subtle and docile than the
matter of light, or heat, or not . . . cannot be determined by us in our
present state of comparative ignorance . . . [p.23]

[PORTER, Henry H.] THE
CATECHISM OF HEALTH: Or, Plain and Simple Rules For the Preservation of the
Health and Vigour of the Constitution From Infancy to Old Age. Philadelphia:
Published at the Office of the Journal of Health and Journal of Law, 1831.

13½
cm. [3]ff.; [v]-x, [7]-195 pp.; errata cancel slip inserted following p. vi.
Several editions were printed this first year of issue, 1831. American Imprints
notes a "Ladies edition" and the 5th & 7th editions that year. The National
Union Catalog lists an edition "For the Use of Schools," 1831, and I have
had another school edition of that year but with different pagination.

Dedicated "to the youth of both
sexes throughout the United States . . . " Parallels to the Word of Wisdom
permeated the temperance literature of Joseph Smith's day, and the Journal
of Health contained the entire essence of the health - and most other
- aspects of that Mormon doctrine. The Catechism of Health (by the
Journal of Health's original editor) shows these same principles being
taught to American children shortly before Doctrine and Covenants 89 was recorded:

Using meat sparingly:

Word of Wisdom (l833)

Yea, flesh also of beasts
and of the fowls of the air, I, the Lord, have ordained for the use of
man with thanksgiving; nevertheless they are to be used sparingly;And it is pleasing unto me that they should
not be used, only in times of winter, or of cold, or famine. [D&C
89:12-13]

Catechism of Health (1831)

Q. 246. Ought [food] to
consist of vegetables or of the flesh of animals?A. Of a proper mixture of both.

Q. 247. Of which should
it consist principally?A. Of vegetables; particularly in
summer and in warm climates. [p.66]

Q. 334. Is there any advantage
which results to the system from the use of tobacco to counterbalance in
some degree its injurious effects?A. Not the least; its use is to be attributed
entirely to a depraved appetite.

Even the use of snuff for cleansing
the teeth ". . . has occasioned in . . . the most delicate and polished females
a desire for its habitual use." (p.87)

Adequate sleep:

The importance of sleep, and
of retiring and rising early, is treated on pages 59-65, 125-6, and 178-9.
Compare to Doctrine and Covenants 88:124.

Coffee and Tea:

The use of coffee and tea is
discouraged on pages 72, 110, 130, and 168-70. Particular emphasis is placed
on the detrimental effects of strong coffee and tea on the stomach. The temperature
of these drinks should not be too hot, (pages 110 and 169); compare such advice
to Doctrine and Covenants 89:9, "And again, hot drinks are not for the body
or belly."

Alcohol:

In no instance must one take
hard liquor. Even beer, ale, and wine should be used with great care if at
all. See pages 78-85 and 162-7.

Other points of interest:

Walking is the best exercise,
p.5l; Dancing is good exercise, pp. 56; 174; Girls require as much exercise
as boys, p.50; "Moderation" (p.76) and temperance always advised. See pp.
7-15 as an example.

Many of the principles in this
book would still be accepted today, although the author seems perhaps overly
concerned with problems of digestion. The answer to Question 385 on page 99
tends to summarize the guiding theory of this work: ". . . temperance in eating
and drinking, regular bodily exercise, a due amount of repose, pure air, proper
clothing, and the most scrupulous attention to personal cleanliness." While
these concepts may seem obvious today, I believe that most scholars familiar
with habits and conditions of Joseph Smith's day will agree that there was
indeed a great need in 1831 for these words of wisdom.

15 X 14¾ inches. The printed
image is identical to an example preserved at St. John's Lodge No. 1, Free
and Accepted Masons, Portsmouth, New Hampshire, illustrated in Bespangled,
Painted & Embroidered; Decorated Masonic Aprons in America, 1790-1850
(Lexington, Massachusetts: Scottish Rite Masonic Museum of Our National Heritage,
[c.1980]), item 54 (p.92). The dating is based on other known work by this
engraver while in Middletown, 1815 and 1823; Porter is listed there in the
1820 census only (ibid., p.93). The apron examined retains its bright gilt
highlights and hand coloring in green, red, yellow and brown, and is surrounded
except along the top edge by a pleated scarlet silk border. It is in fine
condition, with some minor restoration.

Displaying numerous familiar
"Mormon" symbols, and resembling the apron worn by a certain "evil" figure
in a ceremony presented live in the older LDS temples. Covering the apron
flap at the top is a large all-seeing eye, beneath which is engraved, "holiness
to the lord." Below the flap appear the sun, moon and stars, and below them
the Masonic arch supported by the two pillars between which may be seen a
large gold triangle and an altar (on a checkered floor) upon which lies a
compass and square. Resting on the ground are the Ark of the Covenant and
the triangular plate of gold engraved with the name of God which in Masonic
lore was buried underground behind a stone door by Enoch. In the foreground
are the rough and smooth ashlars (stones) to which Joseph Smith once compared
himself. This apron is made of lambskin or similar white leather, referred
to as being worn by the Gadianton Robbers in the Book of Mormon (3 Nephi 4:7).

QUINCY, Josiah, 1802-82.AN ORATION, Delivered July 4, 1832, Before the City Council and Inhabitants
of Boston. By Josiah Quincy, Jr. Boston: John H. Eastburn, City Printer,
1832.

24½cm.
21 pp. Printed white wrappers with ornamental border, reading, "Mr. Quincy's
Oration. July 4, 1832." Only edition in the National Union Catalog; American
Imprints 14434. There were several Josiah Quincys; this is the one who wrote
Figures of the Past (1883; Flake 6787), famous for the description
and prophecy about Joseph Smith based on the author's personal visit to Nauvoo.
The following interesting news blurb appeared in the Albany agricultural weekly,
The Plough Boy,for August 4, 1821 (III:10), p.78: "Havard
[sic] University.—The Bowdoin prizes for this year, have been awarded
to the following young gentlemen:—To Josiah Quincey , Jr. of Boston, Senior
Class, a First Prize; to Ralph Emerson, of Boston, Senior Class, a Second
Prize . . ."

An eloquent speech, pleading
for the preservation of the Constitution and the Union. Half a year before
Joseph Smith dictated the prophecy on war (D&C 87, December 25, 1832),
Josiah Quincy issued these warnings:

'But what cause for alarm?'
cry the indifferent and the indolent. 'Our prosperity is unrivalled. The
sounds of danger have always been heard, but they have hitherto produced
no ruin.' But a feeling of security is not always a proof of safety. . .
.

Oceans are not required
to divide the interests of nations, nor to create discords among a people.
The dangers of a great confederacy are from within, and the more therefore
to be dreaded. . . . [p.9]
. . . . .

And what are the signs
of the times? Do we not hear, even on the floor of Congress, of incompatibilities
of interests,—of sectional rivalries,—of calculations of the value of the
Union,—of conventions, and nullification? And do these portend nothing to
be dreaded? [p.10]
. . . . .

Suppose the times, some
sanguine spirits so complacently anticipate, come. Suppose the union gone,
and every State independent. What a conflict of interest,—what an excitement
of passion,—what an accumulation of animosity among rival, powerful and
discordant nations!

. . . Our rivalries would
not be confined to our native shores. . . .

. . . Foreign nations would
foment and quicken it. . . . The hostile powers of the old world would take
sides with the powers of the new, and America would again become the battle-ground
of Europe. . . . Every height would be crowned with a fortress,—every frontier
bristle with bayonets! [p.11] . . . Ingenuity would be spent in devising
new modes of destruction. . . . The light of civilization, like the sunbeam
on the dial-plate of Hezekiah, would go backward, and that revolution, which
we this day celebrate as the commencement of a new era in the history of
the liberties of our country and our race, the future patriot may be compelled
to consider a greater curse on the prospects of our species, than the tyranny
of all the monarchs who have sat upon the thrones, of Christendom. [p.12;
compare to D&C 87:6, "And thus, with the sword and by bloodshed the
inhabitants of the earth shall mourn; and . . . be made to feel the wrath,
and indignation, and chastening hand of an Almighty God, until the consumption
decreed hath made a full end of all nations; . . ."]

. . . what we have yet witnessed
is but the breath of the South over a bed of violets, in comparison with the
tempest that will then ensue. [p.13]

Royalton, Vermont. Church
of Baptised Bretheren.THE CHURCH OF BAPTISED BRETHERIN, ROYALTON,
VERMONT; A Record of its Meetings, Conferences and Councils for the Years
1790 to 1806; From the Original Manuscript. Woodstock, Vermont: The Elm
Tree Press, 1919.

23 cm. [l]f.; 71 pp. The first
appearance of this manuscript in print; only edition in the National Union
Catalog.

Are Latter-day Saints unusual
when they teach that people cannot take the sacrament until they are baptized?
Or that baptism must absolutely be performed by immersion? Was the Book of
Mormon original in recounting that Satan taught antichrists that all men could
sin a little and still be saved? The answer, of course, is that these issues
were current among various religious groups of Joseph Smith's time. The record
at hand displays them in Joseph Smith's home town, just before he was born.
The "Baptised Bretherin" were a group of essentially Closed-Communion Baptists
who met alternately in Sharon and Royalton, Vermont, before and throughout
the time when the Smith Family lived on the borderline between these towns.
Through endless disputes, their church minutes record - in deliciously quaint
language - several future "Mormon" doctrines which were insisted upon by the
neighbors of young Joseph Smith:

Baptism by Immersion:

----after som Conversation.
it was asked all round to the Bretheren present if they Did believe and Be
Baptised, and that Baptism is Diping, or Emertion under water - the whole
war in the afarmetive [p.36]

. . . we hold that none have
a right to the holy ordenance bot Believers neither Can it be administred
Rightly: but by Emersion Dipintgon the boddy in water in the name of the triune
- God . . . [p.48]

Taking the Sacrament
(of the Lord's Supper) only if one has been baptized: A serious dispute threatened
to break up this little church group, over whether or not unbaptized persons
could commune. It was eventually resolved that they could not:

. . . after much Deliboration
they Come to a Vote of the Ch[ur]h whather the Chh Could walk with a Brother
that holds to Open Communion or not - it was Voted in the Negetive . . . the
Bretherin ware Called upon to Give their minds whether they Could walk with
a Brother that Could Reseve an unbaptised Brother to Communion --- at the
Lords table --- . . . [p.32]

. . . we Cannot admit to our
Communion at the Lords table aney Person whatsoever, although we believe he
is a Christian or a Converted person unless he has bin baptised in the Gospel
way after Confescion of faith and was Dipte or Emersed undor wator in the
name of the sacred trinity . . . [p.40; see also pp. 46-7]

Anti-Universalism: The
doctrine of universal salvation, espoused by Asael Smith and his son Joseph,
Sr., was despised by most Protestants as a deception by Satan, designed to
lull mankind into apathy (see Jacob 7:18, Alma 30:53). That same simplistic
reaction also appeared in Joseph Smith's birthplace, as we see here:

. . . they to there Grate
Greaf found that he had imbraind and Did seame to believe that uneversal Salvation
was Gospel Doctrin-- . . . the Commity then Reported that they had faithfully
laibored with Brother David Smith: and that they find him still (as he Saith)
fairm in the Believeff: that all the Hew man lump will be saved by Christ
from Eternal misery or Eternal Punishment in the world to Com
. . . . .

. . . Salvation for all Adams
Raice Eternaly . . . they were satisfide that he Did imbraice this Bainfull
Doctrin . . . we Cannot walk with a Brother that Dus Believe in the Same Doctrin
that the Sarpant Preached to our first Parance in the Gardin - thou Shalt
not Surely Die [pp. 21,23; see Alma 11-12]

On September 22, 1806, the generally-patient
Brethren excommunicated "Sister Abagil Denison" for - among other things -
having "imbibed the Doctrin of universal Salvation to all men Shewing no Differance
betwene the holy and profane nor the unclean and clean see Ezekeil 22-26-
Such Doctrin we Cannot fellowship being not agreeable with the eternal word
of truth . . ." (p.71). It is interesting that the infant Joseph Smith, Jr.,
had apparently been delivered here only ten months earlier by Dr. Joseph Adam
Denison of nearby Bethel, Vermont. -See Larry C. Porter, A Study of the
Origins of the Church . . .1816-1831 (BYU Thesis, 1971), pp. 19-20, n.23.
Other subjects of interest in this record include voting on church doctrine
and leaders by both men and women (passim); reference to ". . . the hands
of Error and that limb of Rome: infant Baptism" (p.50); evils of drinking,
pp. 46 and 69; serious disputes over support of ministers, pp. 24-30 &
elsewhere; and letters of recommendation given to traveling members of the
church, pp. 31 and 68 (compare to D&C 20:84).

SPALDING [or SPAULDING],
Solomon, 1761-1816.THE "MANUSCRIPT FOUND." Or, "MANUSCRIPT
STORY," of the Late Rev. Solomon Spaulding; From a Verbatim Copy of the Original
Now in the Care of Pres. James H. Fairchild, of Oberlin College, Ohio. Including
Correspondence Touching the Manuscript, Its Preservation and Transmission
Until it Came into the Hands of the Publishers. Lamoni, Iowa: Printed
and Published by the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints,
1885.

17 cm. 144 pp. First edition.
Flake 8309. Second edition published the following year by the LDS (Utah)
Church, then published again by the RLDS Church in 1903 and in 1908, followed
by another LDS Church edition in 1910.

The first appearance in print
of the manuscript which (until it was finally located in Hawaii) had presented
for half a century the most serious threat of being the "source" of the Book
of Mormon according to many writers. It is to James Harris Fairchild, president
of Oberlin College 1866-89, that we owe the discovery and exposition of the
Solomon Spaulding manuscript. Fairchild concluded that it could not have been
the source of the Book of Mormon. See his "Manuscript of Solomon Spaulding
and the Book of Mormon" in Magazine of Western History 4 (May-October
1886), pp. 30-39; also published separately as Tract vol. 3, no.77 of the
Northern Ohio and Western Reserve Historical Society, Cleveland, before which
he read that paper on March 23, 1886, with the original Spaulding manuscript
at his side. Spaulding's text was printed by the RLDS Church in order to demonstrate
how little it resembles the Book of Mormon.

The Spaulding narrative is an
example of an attempt by an American of the early nineteenth century to produce
a piece of literature based on the aboriginal inhabitants of this continent.
The original manuscript was written in what is now Conneaut, in the extreme
northeast corner of Ohio, ca. 1810-12, when the Western Reserve was still
quite primitive. Indian mounds and a large ancient burying ground existed
in the village, supplying ample inspiration for an indigent local novelist
in quest of both entertainment and money:

Among the human bones found
in the mounds [in Conneaut] were some belonging to men of gigantic structure.
. . . The burying ground referred to contained about four acres, and with
the exception of a slight angle in conformity with the natural contour of
the ground, was in the form of an oblong square. It appeared to have been
accurately surveyed into lots running from north to south, and exhibited
all the order and propriety of arrangement deemed necessary to constitute
Christian burial. . . . The graves were distinguished by slight depressions
disposed in straight rows, and were estimated to number from two to three
thousand. . . . Traces of ancient cultivation observed by the first settlers
on the lands of the vicinity, although covered with forest, exhibited signs
of having once been thrown up into squares and terraces, and laid out into
gardens. [Henry Howe, Historical Collections of Ohio (Cincinnati,
1848 edition), p.40]

Before moving to Conneaut in
1809, Spaulding lived in Otsego County, New York, for some fourteen years.
A Dartmouth graduate, he died in 1816 without ever seeing his cherished manuscript
published. During the 1985 Hofmann forgery investigations, I was rather hastily
accused by a Salt Lake County investigator of having conspired to forge Solomon
Spaulding's signature on a document dated years after Spaulding's death! This
common tendency to look for conspiracies to explain uncommonly perplexing
events or books may help explain why the Spaulding theory of the Book of Mormon
has persisted so long in some quarters, even after the discovery of Spaulding's
manuscript in 1884.

It is only fair, however, to
concede that some parallels do exist between Spaulding's manuscript and the
Book of Mormon. In Book of Mormon Authorship: A Closer Look (Ogden,
Utah: Zenos Publications, [1983], 45 pp.), Vernal Holley presents rather extensive
examples of similarities shared to one degree or another by the two works.
According to Holley:

While the Book of Mormon
contains much more religious material than the Spaulding text, the outlines
of the two stories are essentially the same. Each record was found in exactly
the same way, was written for the same purpose, tells the story of the same
ancient American inhabitants, has the same sea voyage, has light- and dark-skinned
people, tells of the same arts and comparable Christian theology, presents
a white God person, involves the use of seer stones, and tells of a war
of extermination between two nations whose people were once brothers. The
final battle in each story is fought on a hill. . . . [pp. 10-11]

Spaulding's first cousin once
removed, of the same name (Solomon Spalding [1797-1862] md. Arvilla-Ann Harris),
apparently wrote an unrelated but equally fascinating work entitled "The Romance
of Celes, or the Florentine Heroes and the Three Female Knights of the Chasm."
In an undated letter to me (ca. September, 1984), Anthony A. Hutchinson reports
this manuscript at the Library of Congress, including "a boring trip through
the solar system, visiting the various inhabitants of the spheres. . . . and
. . . ref[erence]s to T[homas]. Dick, the Rocky Mountains, the priesthood
after the Order of Melchizedek, etc."

14 cm. 231 pp. First edition
in book form; first printed as a prize-winning entry in the New England
Galaxy. For historical background and analysis, see John E. Flitcroft,
The Novelist of Vermont; A Biographical and Critical Study of Daniel Pierce
Thompson (Cambridge, MA, 1929), pp.79-90. Cited three times (1852 edition)
by Ronald W. Walker in "The Persisting Idea of American Treasure Hunting,"
BYU Studies 24 (Fall "1984"), pp. 442, 447, 451 + notes 78, 108, and
133, noting that some fifty editions were published.

Thompson, future author of
The Green Mountain Boys, practiced law in his native state and often
went fishing with local oldsters, learning the folklore and traditions of
the region. This highly engaging novel, which won the writer a $50 prize,
contains the basic elements of money digging, complete with occult divinations,
a seer stone, a "slippery" treasure (p.98; compare to Mormon 1:18), and a
threatening spirit - in this case a confederate who helps the villain take
advantage of local farmers (particularly one Martin), some of whom even mortgage
their farms to raise the required capital. The following extract typifies
the intrigue:

'But what can be the reason
that you cannot see in the stone at one time as well as another?'

'No one can exactly tell.
A friend of mine who has the faculty . . . supposes it is the devil that
casts a mist before the stone . . . One must keep his mind intently fixed
on what he expects to discover, and wait with patience till the stone clears,
and then if there is any thing to be found, he will be sure to see it, and
all the objects by which it is surrounded.'

In the end, the charlatan
who once could be seen "with his face protruded into his hat which he held
in his lap" (p.45) turned to better ways as a "preacher of the gospel, laboring
in the far west." (p.229).

WORSLEY, Israel.A
VIEW OF THE AMERICAN INDIANS, Their General Character, Customs, Language,
Public Festivals, Religious Rites, and Traditions: Shewing Them to be the
Descendants of the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel. The Language of Prophecy Concerning
Them, and the Course by Which They Travelled from Media into America.
London: For the Author by R. Hunter, June, 1828.

18 cm. [l]f.; xii, 185 pp. Only
edition.

Worsley (1768-1836), a British
Unitarian minister, begins here by referring to the writings of Elias Boudinot
and Ethan Smith. He then cites a host of other writers and launches into a
highly detailed rehearsal of similarities between ancient Israelites and the
American Indians. The arguments are at times gratuitous, but always insistent
and surprising in number and scope. "In the book of Ezekiel 37. 16.," writes
Worsley, "we have this striking passage, 'Moreover, thou son of man, take
thee a stick and write upon it, "for Judah and for the children of Israel,
his companions." And then another stick and write upon it, "For Joseph, the
stick of Ephraim and for all the house of Israel, his companions."' And the
fact has been as the prophet intimated." p.l9; for a modern explanation of
this scripture in the context of Mormon studies, see Brian E. Keck, "Ezekiel
37, Sticks, and Babylonian Writing Boards: A Critical Reappraisal," Dialogue
23 (Spring 1990), pp. 126-38.

Worsley quotes generously from
Isaiah, and speaks of ". . . promises which have not yet been fulfilled, a
restoration in the latter days. They are called Ephraim . .
." p.21. The God of the Jews, he contends, "has still taken care of his chosen
but rebellious people . . . still keeps them as the apple of his eye." p.13.
Other Mormon parallel references of interest include "a land where no man
dwelt," (p.180; compare to Ether 2:5); Urim & Thummim, pp. 49, 80-81;
". . . their knowledge of the blazing stones of the urim and thummim . . ."
p.81; "a transparent stone of supposed great power," (p.81; cf. Ether 3:1-4,
6:2-3); Indian equivalents to the Ark of the Covenant carried into battle,
pp. 50-51 & elsewhere. ". . . They had once a holy book," Worsley concludes,
"which while they kept, things went well with them; they lost it, and in consequence
of the loss fell under the displeasure of the Great Spirit; but they believe
they shall one day regain it - they are looking for and expecting some one
to come and teach them the right way." p.182; one year later the Book of Mormon
went to press.

[WELLS, Seth Youngs,
compiler] MILLENNIAL PRAISES, Containing A
Collection of Gospel Hymns, in Four Parts; Adapted to the Day of Christs's
Second Appearing. Composed for the Use of His People. Hancock [MA]: Printed
by Josiah Tallcott, Junior., 1813.

17 cm. viii, 288, [4 (index)]
pp. Words only. Second Edition, Richmond 1416 (". . . generally attributed
to Seth Y. Wells. This first Shaker hymn book was published for circulation
and use among Believers exclusively."); Shaw & Shoemaker 30511. First
published 1812 (same publisher and pagination). The Mormon parallels which
this Shaker book contains are primarily linguistic rather than doctrinal,
but they are often surprising and refreshing to read.

In this last great dispensation,
O, what glory does appear!
We have found a just relation
To our blessed Parents here:
[p.188: Hymn III:XX, "Mother's Children."]

Children of the heavenly
Queen,
Bright and lovely, pure and clean,
Sent from the celestial band,
Welcome to this western land!
Here we see the heavens bend,
And the elder saints descend,
Down to souls in nature's gloom,
Gospel infants in the womb.
[p.198: Hymn III:XXV, "The Bread of Life."]

Establish'd in the latter
days,On mountains of eternal praise,
Shall be the house which God will raise,
By Judah's holy Lion;
And many nations there shall come,
The lame and blind, the deaf and dumb,
Shall find an everlasting home,
And praise the Lord in Zion.
[p.265: Hymn IV:XXV, "Micah's Prophesy."]

The introduction to my
Catalogue Six, LIKE A FIRE; An Offering of Early Mormon Background and
Parallels (Bloomington, Indiana, 1984) . . .

ANALOGIES
based on fire appeared
frequently in the religious literature of the early nineteenth century.
The phenomena [encountered in the study of Mormon parallels] spread according
to the fuel and the receptacles presented - either kindling, illuminating
or consuming - in a variety of hues and patterns as diverse and unpredictable
as the most capricious flames.

"The Spirit of God like
a fire is burning!" resounded against walls of the Kirtland Temple ablaze
with fine porcelain crushed into the mortar in quiet acts of sacrifice typical
of that deliberate righteousness Tocqueville is said to have seen as the
font of the greatness of America. The Mormon Pentecost did not ignite in
a vacuum, and if angels were "coming to visit the earth," the channels had
been opened by a thousand religious, political, fraternal and missionary
adepts of different persuasions who had already blazed their way into that
spiritual wilderness that ever burns but is never consumed.

"It is a conviction I cannot
resist, " declared Richard Price after the Revolution, "that the independence
of the English colonies in America is one of the steps ordained by Providence
to introduce these times." A spark was in the air, and the atmosphere was
charged with a transcending vision of the workings of God leading toward
some millennial effulgence worthy of the glorious beginnings of the Western
Eden and of its future enlightened citizens, both white and red. "Speed,
speed, ye sons of truth!" cried Timothy Dwight to Columbus' little crew,

Ormond, the Mormon-like
catalyst of Sarah Hale's Genius of Oblivion (1823), roamed the temporal
wilderness of America, wondering where volumes describing his ancestors
lay forgotten, and learned in a forest vision - complete with beings in
flashing light - that the first Americans came from the Holy Land some 585
years before the birth of Christ. Publishing the same year, Ethan Smith
reasoned that "it would be strange if so great a section of Christendom
as our United States, could claim no appropriate space in the prophetic
writings," and saw the promises of Isaiah fulfilling in the remnants of
a once-noble race now fleeing the very forests his generation was striving
to tame.

To refuse the concepts of
such works for fear they might detract from some uniqueness of the Mormon
faiths is to deny Joseph Smith his right to adhere to anything he found
"virtuous, lovely, or of good report or praiseworthy." Even essays written
by Emerson within weeks before or after certain revelations recorded in
the Doctrine and Covenants contain strong parallels to concepts cherished
as tenets of the Faith today. Such resemblances between Mormon thought and
its precursors and early contemporaries go only so far as one will see them
- hopefully never beyond limits of judicious research and comparison. Like
the myriad colors that spring from unexpected sources at the base of a flame,
the light of Mormonism is only richer for the countless beginnings from
which it may be seen to partake.

Picture
at the top of this page: The broad rock base of the main
creek turns into a short slide at the lowest corner of my property. A bit
difficult to reach, and quite a surprise the first time I saw it after buying
the house & land.

Picture
further below: Mennonite children play at the site where
some of the earliest Mormon services were held in "Whitmer's School House,"
1830-31 (corner of Miller and County House Roads, Fayette, New York). Photograph
by Rick Grunder, 1980s; detail of the wrap-around CD folder illustration
for Mormon Parallels: A Bibliographic Source).